Now agriculture minister Mary Coughlan has announced the cull programme will continue on past its proposed end in 2008, despite repeated protests from animal rights groups that badgers are not the biggest culprits in the spread of the disease. So who is to blame?

"We would say that badgers have an incredibly minor role, or even no role, in the spread of bovine TB, " said Bernie Barrett of Badgerwatch.

"The testing of cattle is only 80% effective, meaning it can spread from cow to cow without the source being detected.

Scientific studies in the UK and America have ruled out the culling of badgers as a response to bovine TB, so it's hard to understand why it is continuing here."

So far this year 3,865 badgers have been culled, with 6,000 snares being set around the country every night. While a 1995 survey of the badger population showed it to be 200,000 in the Republic of Ireland, the Department of Agriculture believes it is now around 130,000.

Under the Berne Convention, 30% of the badger population can be killed if such action is considered necessary to prevent the spread of disease.

"Scientific studies (the East Offaly Project and the Four Area Project) were undertaken throughout the 1990s into 2002, which demonstrated that where badgers were removed/numbers controlled, the incidence of TB in cattle dropped significantly, " said a department spokesman.

"Badger removal is only considered after an f investigation by a veterinary inspector determines that the cause of a herd breakdown is not associated with the inward movement of infected cattle."

However, Badgerwatch says bovine TB was nearly eradicated in the 1960s without badger culling, and it believes the 57,000 badgers that have been killed since the culling programme began have died unnecessarily.

"Badgers are already under pressure from being killed on roads and by being snared and poisoned by other sources, " said Barrett. "They are a part of our national heritage and other countries have found that culling is not the answer. We are calling for the department to put an end to it."

The Department of Agriculture is currently investigating a badger vaccine that would prevent the animals from spreading the disease. If successful, it would put an end to badger culling. Until then, however, the cull continues.